Add a Power-Clip Bitmap to an Image in CorelDRAW

Doug Zender has used CorelDRAW extensively since version 4. His goal is to minimize the intimidation of the program and give users the sense that CorelDRAW is a friend, not an adversary. Dougbegan as a design artist, then moved into the sign industry in 1992 doing vinyl graphics. You can contact him at dezender1@gmail.com.

To remove a background from an image in CorelDRAW, one possibility is using the Bezier tool to draw around the desired image in CorelDRAW. Then you can power-clip a bitmap into that object to enhance the image.

Sometimes this works best, especially if you need an outside contour or outline applied to the image. PHOTO-PAINT is not needed for this process as it is done entirely in CorelDRAW.

This is the process I used to create the image in the figure above — after drawing the outline shape with the Bezier tool and being as accurate as possible (after my initial drawing, I had to edit nodes to clean up irregularities). I drew around the inside windows, again with utmost accuracy, and then combined those inside objects with the outline I had drawn, and finally, when satisfied with my drawing, I power-clipped the bitmap into my drawn vector object. (Depending on the level of accuracy needed, this method may prove to be the best option.)

I then added an outside 20-step contour, adjusting Contour offset to my liking to simulate a glow around the image, having chosen white as my primary color and my ending color to match the background; in this case, I chose cyan. (If the image is to be re-sized, it is imperative to break the contour apart prior to resizing to retain the proper faded look.)

—Doug Zender

Keep reading to learn how to obtain a segment of a photo in PHOTO-PAINT without a background.